"let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: we have sinned and rebelled and You have not forgiven."
3:39
"why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?"
humans do many ridiculous things. one of them, i realized, is that we always tend to eat our words. meaning, we make many mistakes, even when someone or something warns us in advance not to do it - and usually, they are always right in the end. and we may complain and moan about the circumstances after the consequences come about, and we always seek solace and forgivenss at the end, even when its too late.
real life example: whenever my mom tells me to do something, or not to do something, i always think that my way is better. she always tells me to wear a thicker jacket before i go out, but i always think that she's wrong and that it wont be too cold. almost 110% of the time, she is right, and i have to eat my words and bear the cold. i dont let her know that she was right, but i definitely have to live out the conesequences of my actions and my inability to heed her warning.
extreme example: in lamentations, the israelites were experiencing the wrath of God in their lives. the sins of their forefathers and them were being lived out. people were oppressed by their enemies, and God was giving them no freedom. God let their enemies have free reign over them.
and we see how the israelites cry out to God, even sometimes crying "foul!". but this was a direct response to their inability to repent of their ways and acknowledge God.
in some ways, i read this and i totally dont feel bad for them. they deserve it! but i look at my own life and realize how many times i have cried "foul!" and became bitter.
the right response is to do what the speaker in lamentations did and repent and acknowledge that hope is found in the Lord. and his mercies are new every morning (3:23). here, we see that even in the midst of utter destruction, the Lord is merciful and loving in his wrath - every hardship eventually leads us to repentence and back to God. just as a child finds comfort in the arms of a mother when she has scolded them for doing something bad, we too, find comfort in the loving arms of out Father in the midst of our hardship. hardship and trails almost always brings us back to God, or at least an acknowledgment of Him.
and ultimate mercy is found at the cross of Jesus. the old testament vicious cycle we always read of blessing > sin > repentence > blessing > sin by the israelites was finally broken through the wrath poured out upon Jesus for our wrongdoing. no longer did God have to pour out his anger of sin upon His people - He laid it all upon Jesus.
Jesus died for our human nature.
